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Rice ousts K-State from NCAA tourney

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rick Hauge and the Rice Owls put an end to the best season in Kansas State history, beating Rob Vaughn and the Wildcats 13-4 Monday night at the Houston Regional. The Owls won 8-0 Sunday night, forcing the second game.

HOUSTON — With the championship of the NCAA Houston Regional on the line, Kansas State pitching wilted under the pressure of Rice’s big bats Monday at Reckling Park.
The top-seeded Owls pounded 20 hits in a 13-4 victory which advanced them into this weekend’s Super Regional series against LSU in Baton Rouge, La.
The loss ended Kansas State’s season, the best in 109 years of Wildcats baseball in which the team set a school record for single-season victories (43).
Having already used his normal starting pitching trio in the first three games of the tournament, K-State coach Brad Hill started Thomas Rooke for the first time this season. Rooke and five subsequent Wildcat hurlers endured a trying evening against an Owl team looking for its fourth consecutive trip to the College World Series.
Rice broke open a 2-2 game with a six-run, six-hit fourth inning. The Owls came back with two runs and four hits in the fifth to establish a 10-2 lead.
“The six-run inning was the ball game,” Hill said. “That really took us out of it. We never could gather any momentum. We were trying to avoid the big inning. Unfortunately, we did not do that.”
Rice had at least one hit in every inning except the second. Five different Owl hitters finished with at least three hits apiece.
Owl first baseman Jimmy Comerota, batting in the No. 8 slot, led the offense with four hits and two RBIs. Teammate Michael Fuda also collected four hits, while Rick Hague had three hits and three RBIs.
Brock Holt and Anthony Rendon also finished with three hits each. Diego Sistrunk’s lone hit was the biggest blast of the night, a three-run home run in the six-run fourth.
“Rice really changed up their (hitting) approach,” Hill said. “They started getting the ball into right field. They hadn’t really done that in the first three games they played. Their hitters really gave us some problems.”
Playing with the poise and savvy indicative of a program that has made 15 consecutive NCAA postseason appearances, Rice played its best while on the brink of elimination.
The Owls dispatched Xavier in quick order, then handed Kansas State convincing setbacks on consecutive nights.
“It’s always great to win, but it’s better when you come out of the loser’s bracket and win,” Rice coach Wayne Graham said. “It speaks of the character of the team. When they came out, with their demeanor, I thought they had an excellent chance to have a great game.”
Even as the game slipped out of reach in the late innings, the Kansas State faithful still had one last chance to savor the team’s most successful season ever.
With one out in the bottom of the two-run Rice eighth, Hill replaced Wildcat seniors Justin Bloxom, Drew Biery, Jordan Cruz and Dane Yelovich in the field. The quartet received a standing ovation from an overflow Reckling Park crowd of 4,589.
“Those guys did something that people have been trying to do for 109 years at Kansas State,” Hill said. “I thought they deserved a little credit. I thought the Rice fans were very classy to know they deserved a big ovation for what they have accomplished at Kansas State.”
Bloxom, Cruz, Nick Martini and A.J. Morris were named to the all-tournament team.
Kansas State 011 000 200 — 4 7 2
Rice 200 620 12x — 13 20 2
Rooke, Allen (4), Hoge (5), Applegate (5), Bahramzadeh (8), Crockett (8) and Vaughn and Dellasega; Haynes, Reckling (3), Rogers (7), Berry (8) and Seastrunk. W—Reckling, 2-2. L—Rooke, 5-2. 2B — K-State, Martini, Bloxom. Rice, Holt, Hague, Fuda. HR — K-State, King (7). Rice, Seastrunk (6).
Records — K-State — 43-18-1, Rice 43-16.